Jury finds Gronewold not guilty of Feb. ‘13 sexual assault

Wednesday

Mar 5, 2014 at 9:59 PM

By Jackie Smithjsmith@McDonoughVoice.com

The student accused of a sexual assault in Western Illinois University's Tanner Hall more than a year ago was found not guilty on two counts Wednesday after three days of trial proceedings in McDonough County Circuit Court.

Timothy Gronewold, now formerly a WIU student, was initially arrested within two days of the incident that occurred overnight Feb. 13, 2013. He'd been charged with both aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault.

Proceedings this week, which Assistant State's Attorney Justin Bougher called "a closed case," entailed testimony from both the defendant and the victim, as well as others who lived in Tanner Hall at the time of the incident.

Defense attorney Nigel Graham, of Lucie, Scalf & Graham in Macomb, said everything came down consent.

"The victim's allegation was that they were out drinking all night, having a good time. She comes back, spills some soda on herself (and) has to go the shower. He walked her down there," Bougher said Wednesday of the Feb. 13, 2013, incident. "She said while she was in the shower, he rattled the door open, came in from behind her and assaulted her. He said she invited him in and it was consensual until a point where she said, 'Stop,' and pushed him, and he stopped."

On Feb. 15, 2013, according to court documents, authorities from WIU's Office of Public Safety and a complex director arrived at Gronewold's Tanner residence room before he was escorted to the station, advised he could leave at anytime and questioned on camera at length. Over the course of court proceedings within the last year, a defense's motion did yield an order that a portion of the resulting video of Gronewold's interview be suppressed and excluded as direct evidence.

However, Graham said any extenuating circumstances surrounding the conditions of the interview itself — such as the number of officers present or its approximate three-hour length — became irrelevant to the trial this week.

"Any material that would've been suppressed according to that motion actually ended up coming in through my client's testimony," the defense attorney said. "We covered every piece of the interview with the police."

Bougher said that there had been some incriminating statements made by Gronewold during the video's second half, which was the portion suppressed.

Both Bougher and Graham recounted the motion as a Miranda issue, or the manner in which Gronewold was made aware of his rights.

"Some (other incriminating statements) were made in the first half that were played (in trial), but the judge ruled that the tone of the interview changed at one point and there was no Miranda," Bougher said. "Then after the Miranda was read, he said he didn't want to talk anymore and the officers asked him a few more questions. He started up again, but because he said, 'No,' the judge ruled that nothing after that could come in."

One additional count of both aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault was dropped prior to the trial's start Monday.

Though the evening's activity amongst the group at Tanner Hall Feb. 13, 2013, had included the consumption of alcohol, Bougher said it made more sense to carry the case to trial with a use-of-force only, arguing that she just said, "No," and not that she was too drunk to give consent.

"We thought the jury would have a hard time distinguishing if it's not one, how could it be the other," Bougher said. "We talked to her, and based on her statements and everybody's around her, she was not unconscious or anything. She was up, talking, laughing. We thought it was a better bet to go forward on the, 'She said no and told him to stop.'"

Criminal sexual assault is otherwise a Class 1 felony, punishable by between four and 15 years in prison, while the aggravated charge is punishable by between six and 30 years as a Class X felony; both were punishable with three years to life of mandatory supervisory release.

With the jury's not-guilty verdict on both charges Wednesday, Graham said he and his client felt vindicated.

"I'm very, very happy that my client can now move on with his life. He's truly a great guy. He was a student at the time, he's a student now (not at WIU)," Graham said, adding his credit to the jury: "They seemed to grasp the facts and issues that were at hand and they made the right call."

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